The area of student loan forbearance and forgiveness can be confusing and misleading if you rely on the internet to research your options.

Thankfully, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, also known as the CFPB, in Washington, DC offers a website to begin the process of dealing with student loans that are not current.

The site, which can be accessed by clicking here, can cut through some of the confusing material and misleading information that you may find on the internet. As a government agency, the CFPB was set up with a specific mandate to help the average consumer deal with all the confusing myriad of options out there in the financial world. The CFPB was the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren, who at the time was a professor at Harvard Law School, and a long time advocate of consumer rights for the public.

This site can be a starting point for research and my message would be to not give up, as most of the time the student loan lenders, be they government or private, will offer you better options and terms than you currently have if you can demonstrate a financial need.